The Apocalypse Chronicles (Book 2): New World [Undead]

by DeLeon, Jon

“Yeah. Woke up every few hours to vent the smoke, remember?”

  “Oh, sorry. I should have helped.”

  “It’s okay. I got you last night. Maybe tonight you help me.”

  Kurt looked out the window, staring at the trees. “You know we can’t stay here.”

  Tyler didn’t stop what he was doing. “I know. Trust me, I know.”

  Kurt turned toward Tyler. “What do you mean?”

  “Well it’s like you said before. In this world, if we stop moving, we’re dead. I didn’t believe you before, and look where that left us. We’re stuck in Russia without a vehicle or soft beds, just trying to survive.”

  Kurt looked at Tyler’s back. “And Liz would still be alive.”

  Tyler flinched. “Yeah, that too.”

  “What happened back there?” Kurt asked.

  Tyler put down his screwdriver. He still looked at the wall of dials.

  “Liz saved me. After you got cut off from us, Liz and I continued trying to reach the RV. There were too many of them. We didn’t stand a chance. A group of zombies popped up right in our way. Toward the forest, there was only one zombie. Liz looked at me and told me she loved me. Before I knew what was going on, she took off in a full sprint and tackled the zombie. She screamed and yelled to me.”

  “For help?”

  “No. She yelled, ‘I love you. I did.’ I took off into the forest and never looked back. I could still hear gunshots and people fighting, but I never looked back. I just put one foot in front of the other. I saw this base and ran to this room. I ran right through that minefield out there. I didn’t realize it until yesterday. Do you know what that means?”

  “What?”

  “It wasn’t my time.” Tyler picked his screwdriver back up and started working again.

  Kurt walked to the side of Tyler. “It’s not your fault, man. She sacrificed herself for you.”

  “I know.”

  “Are you all ri—”

  “Just let me work. Let’s just get home. Let’s just get the hell out of Russia.”

  “Okay.”

  A few awkward hours later, Tyler put down his tools and spoke animatedly. “I got it!”

  Kurt looked up from a piece of string he was playing with. “What?”

  “I got it! I have a connection!”

  Kurt jumped up and ran across the room. He hovered over Tyler’s shoulder.

  Tyler looked at the jerry-rigged cell phone in his hands. He pressed the numbers in and put the phone on speaker. “It’s ringing!” He and Kurt shared a moment of elation.

  On the third ring, a voice came through. “Hello?”

  “Dad?”

  “Tyler?”

  Tyler began to cry tears of joy. “Yeah, Dad, it’s me.”

  Kurt could hear an explosion of happy cheering erupt from the cell phone.

  “Dad, who all’s there with you?”

  “Everyone, son, we’re all okay. The military rescued us.”

  “Thank God.”

  Liz’s mom was speaking. “Is Liz there with you?”

  Tyler looked up at Kurt. He had hurt in his eyes. Tyler switched the phone off speaker. Kurt stepped away to give him some semblance of privacy. Kurt walked to the window and looked outside again. The entire world looked like a different place. It was beautiful again. The pine trees waved in the wind, and the sun shined brightly.

  A few minutes later, Tyler hung up his call. Kurt came over. Tyler was a mixture of relief and guilt.

  “Are you all right?” Kurt asked.

  “Yeah.” Tyler wiped a tear from his cheek. “Want to try calling someone?” He smiled coyly.

  “Oh yeah.”

  Kurt took the satellite phone and punched in the number for Joe’s satellite phone. It rang once, then again and again. After six rings, Kurt’s heart was dropping. On the seventh ring, it went to voicemail. Kurt wondered if his mind was just going into shock. He couldn’t think of anything to say. He had been expecting him to answer. He had planned out a wonderful conversation full of love and “I miss you.” Instead it was just a voicemail. Kurt said the first thing that came to mind and hung up. “314.”

  Kurt looked at the wall of dials.

  “Sorry, man,” Tyler said. “Kurt?” he asked. “Kurt?”

  “We need to go.” Kurt took a step out the door.

  “Kurt,” Tyler said with a sympathetic tone.

  Kurt yelled back at Tyler, “What?”

  “Kurt. I’m sorry, man.”

  “He didn’t answer, so what? We need to get to him.”

  “Kurt.”

  “What? Why do you keep saying my name?”

  “Man, you know what that probably means.”

  “No, fuck you. He just didn’t have his phone on him. Maybe he is in the bathroom.”

  “In the bathroom?” Tyler asked kindly.

  “It’s possible.”

  “Maybe,” Tyler said, with little belief in his voice.

  “What do you mean ‘maybe’?”

  “Maybe it’s better to let go.”

  “Let go?” Kurt was hurt by the thought.

  “It might be easier to just not worry about him. It might be better to let go for now. Maybe you should accept he’s gone.”

  “No. No. No! No! No, you’re wrong!” Kurt was a mixture of anger and a growing feeling of despair.

  “Kurt.”

  “You are wrong. You have to be wrong. You have to be!” Kurt fell to his knees. Tears began to run down his face. He put his head in his hands and sobbed. “You have to be.”

  After five hours of being inconsolable, Kurt now sat against a wall, a complete shell of a man. He stared absentmindedly at the cement floor. His mind was in a void somewhere.

  Tyler sat against the opposite wall, munching on a meal bar. Tyler handed Kurt a canteen of water. Kurt took the water and sipped down a large gulp.

  Tyler took the opportunity to start conversation up again. “I set the satellite phone up to be sending out a signal. Maybe it will get someone’s attention. If someone’s listening.”

  Kurt didn’t respond. He didn’t care.

  Tyler continued. “I used your message to your brother. The signal is three beeps, a pause, one beep, a pause, four beeps, and a pause, on a loop. I know it’s not much of a tribute to him, but I figured it’s something. Maybe his memory will save us.”

  Tyler changed the subject. “My dad says that there are pockets of the US that are still alive. He says the military is fighting back against this zombie plague. It sounded like they were gaining ground.”

  Kurt was in a bad mood. The last real hope he held onto had just been ripped away from him. “So?” Kurt snipped back.

  “So it sounds like there is still hope. There is still a world to return to out there. Humanity still exists.”

  “I don’t care.”

  “Look, I know right now you don’t care about anything, but you need to accept that the world isn’t all bad. Sure, the zombies have robbed us of nearly everything, but we have a chance. If we make it out of here, we could go back to a normal life. No more running, no more watching people we love getting ripped apart. We can start over.”

  “I don’t want to start over.”

  “You want to stay here? You want to live on the undead planet?”

  “I don’t want to live.”

  “Don’t say that.”

  “Without my brother, I don’t care.”

  “Don’t you think he would have wanted you to fight on, to survive?”

  Kurt looked up at Tyler.

  Tyler continued. “I think he would have.”

  “Don’t talk to me like you know what he would want. You don’t understand. Your family is fine. They are living somewhere, happy and safe. I have lost everything! This evil world has taken it all from me! Don’t talk to me like you have any idea!”

  Tyler got angry. “Don’t talk to me like I lost nothing! I lost Liz!”

  Kurt got enraged. “Oh please! You aren’t even broken up
about that! I didn’t see you shed a single tear for her!”

  “You have no idea how much I have felt that loss!”

  “Well it doesn’t matter now, does it? You’re alive, and your entire family is there waiting for you! You get to go home and pretend that none of this happened! While I have to limp on in life without Joe! You don’t know how lucky you are! Don’t even try to compare yourself to me!”

  Kurt and Tyler were screaming at the top of their lungs at this point. They were interrupted by the sound of a loud explosion. They both turned in time to witness a second and a third. Out in the minefield, dirt and body parts flew through the air.

  A wall of zombies were working their way through, from the forest to the base. Hundreds of them were advancing. The screaming from their fight had attracted unwanted company. A fourth and a fifth explosion erupted. Bodies flew, and wails echoed through the air.

  Tyler and Kurt looked at each other. They both read each other’s mind: Run.

  Tyler grabbed his gun. Kurt grabbed his pack. And they took off in the opposite direction from the minefield. They ran at a breakneck pace, only slowing to look over their shoulders. The zombies were making their way closer. The first of them had made it past the main gate and were on the way.

  Kurt and Tyler covered the length of the base in a matter of minutes. They ran smack dab into a triple row of chain-link fence, about twelve feet high, rimmed with barbed wire along the top. On the other side of the fence was salvation.

  The far end of the base backed up to a lake. In the middle of the lake was a small island with a pile of dead trees. The only thing that stood in the way was that fence. Kurt and Tyler started to climb, when they heard a noise they didn’t expect: horns. Honking car horns were blaring from directly behind. They turned to see three RVs and a truck plowing through the zombie horde.

  Kurt and Tyler jumped off the fence and out of the way just in time. The RVs and truck plowed through the fences right where they had been. As the vehicles screeched and ground against the chain-link and barbed wire, a large section was destroyed, giving direct access to the lake. A massive splash sent waves across the lake as the vehicles crashed into the water.

  Kurt and Tyler chased after them. They dove into the water. In an instant, the breath was stolen from their chests. The water was ice cold. People came swimming out of the wreckage. They were survivors from the camp. Ten people had made it, including Jonathan and Brandon, the two brothers Kurt and Tyler had met weeks ago. Everyone began swimming to the island. Once they got there and pulled themselves from the frigid water, hugs were exchanged. Looking back, they saw a ring of zombies standing along the shore. They would not follow through the water.

  The two brothers got straight to work. “Tyler, can you and Kurt get a fire going?”

  “Uh, you wouldn’t happen to have waterproof matches, would you?” Tyler asked.

  “Here you go.” Jonathan gave him a Zippo lighter.

  “Thanks.”

  “Where are you guys going?” Kurt asked.

  “We need to save what supplies we can,” Brandon answered.

  “You’re going to swim back out there?”

  “Look.”

  Kurt followed to where Brandon was pointing. Several coolers had floated to the surface.

  “In those coolers are food and drinks. You guys get the fire going so we can get warm once we come back.”

  Tyler patted Kurt’s shoulder. “Come on, Kurt. Let’s go.”

  The sunlight was gone. Kurt and Tyler had made a giant fire. It was literally roaring as the dead trees first unfroze and then exploded into flames. Pitch-blackness consumed the world around the island. It was now an island in two ways. Not only was it land in the middle of water, but it was also light in pure dark, a flicker of brightness shining against the void. Even the shore was gone in the moonless night.

  Brandon held up a bottle of wine. He and Jonathan had rescued four coolers from the lake before having to call it quits. Three of them were full of alcohol, and the fourth had an assortment of snack foods. All the survivors were sitting in a circle around a large bonfire. Brandon began his speech.

  “First I would like to say that I know we’ve all been through a lot. We have been put through a literal hell, especially these past few days. We have lived in fear and have been chased like prey through the forest. We have all lost people, loved ones, family.”

  Brandon choked back his emotions and then continued.

  “We have lost family, but we are not family-less. Look around you. This is your family now. Together we are one unit. Together is how we survive. The people around you are what drive you forward. They give you a reason to keep fighting. Even when we got ambushed and separated, it was our reuniting that kept us alive. Together, ten of us made it out of that camp, but we were lost. We didn’t know where to go or what to do. We were stuck, surrounded on all sides by the zombies, and they were closing in. Low on gas, we didn’t know what was going to happen next. Then a miracle happened. One whole section of zombies started leaving. We followed them, and where did they lead us? To Kurt and Tyler. We didn’t know we still had family out there. They were still there and still alive. The zombies showed us the way to them. They are my brothers. Look, I’m not going to say we are in a great condition. That would be a lie. However, no matter what happens from here on out, we stick together as a family.”

  Brandon lifted his wine bottle high. “For those we have lost, and for the new family we have found.”

  He took a big swig from the bottle. Everyone in the group did the same with their drink of choice. Brandon had one last thing to say. “Let’s celebrate one more night of life.”

  The group cheered. The drinks flowed like water, and everyone allowed himself or herself to let go, completely.

  Kurt sat next to Tyler. “Tyler, look, about earlier . . .”

  “It’s okay, man.”

  “No it’s not. I just lost my mind when I realized I was brotherless.”

  “Brandon’s right, you aren’t brotherless. You’re my family now. You’re my brother.”

  Kurt began to cry. Tyler hugged him. Tyler went back to the party. Kurt was too tired to drink; the emotion of the day had taken its toll. He fell asleep by the fire, leaning against a log, with the sound of laughter and revelry filling his ears.

  Key West Harbor: Outbreak Day +68

  Kira saw Joe a split second before she saw the glint of a combat knife sticking out of the throat of Chester Almont.

  Joe had arrived home to find the large man trying to kill one of the people he loved. That was not going to happen. Joe dragged the limp form outside and threw him overboard.

  Let the sharks take care of you.

  He came back inside to find Kira sitting on the couch, staring at the small blood path Chester’s body had left. Joe sat down next to her and put her head in his hands. He looked her over.

  “Are you all right?”

  She didn’t reply, her throat still regaining its ability to move air.

  “Kira, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

  “I’m . . . I’m fine,” she choked out.

  Joe pulled her close and hugged her. The scent of his musk poured into Kira’s nose. His warmth enveloped her. She sank into his embrace. As Joe pulled away, Kira took action.

  She pulled him to her lips and kissed him.

  Joe didn’t pull away.

  CHAPTER 4

  The Russian Military Outpost Lake: Outbreak Day +68

  The morning rays of sun penetrated through a dense fog that had settled over the small island. The survivors were all sprawled in a circle around the glowing embers from last night’s fire. The warmth still held off the Russian, early-spring, icy dew.

  Kurt rolled over and wiped water from his face. The ground had turned into mud. The permafrost had melted from the intense heat of the fire.

  Kurt sat up and looked around. In front of him was the glowing fire pit. To his left was Tyler curled up in a ball, hugging a bottle of te
quila. Kurt looked to his right. Brandon was sleeping, sitting against a log, an empty bottle of wine lazily leaning from his slouched hand. The rest of the group of survivors looked pretty much the same. Kurt stood and surveyed the aftermath of last night’s party.

  Kurt had fallen asleep and missed out on a rager. Empty bottles lay everywhere. There were bottles floating in the lake, lying spilled on the ground and sitting in the fire pit. Kurt worked his way to the coolers, doing his best not to step on a sleeping person or kick a bottle. He opened the coolers to find all the drinks gone. All that was left was a Capri Sun that had been skipped over. Kurt smiled.

  He flashed back to playing soccer with Joe. Joe was a competitor. He wanted to win, and in most cases did. Kurt didn’t care as much. He was just happy to be on the same team as Joe. Kurt’s favorite part was after games. Someone would break out a container of cut oranges and pass around Capri Suns.

  Kurt took the drink and pushed the straw through the puncture point. He accidentally pushed too hard, sending the straw out the back. Kurt looked at the Capri Sun, shaking his head and laughing under his breath. Soon he was full-blown laughing, his whole body shaking. I can’t even drink a Capri Sun right in this f-ing zombie apocalypse.

  After fixing the straw and drinking what he could, Kurt started walking around the island. He wanted to see what kind of supplies were close to shore that he could fish out.

  Kurt looked out at the water. He could only see a few feet through this fog. He couldn’t even see the short distance to the shore. A large bubble of air burst from the surface.

  Must have been one of the car tires bursting. Kurt thought.

  Kurt walked back to the camp. He climbed back up the muddy slope to where he had slept. He sat down and stared at the sky. A noise to his left caught his attention.

  Tyler grunted as he sat up. “What the hell happened?

  “Looks like you ate the worm.”

  “What?” Tyler was squinting and suffering a massive headache.

  Kurt simply pointed at Tyler’s hand.

  Tyler hadn’t even realized he was holding the bottle. He looked at it with disdain. With a heave, he threw the bottle into the fire coals. He put his face in both hands. “Ugh, I hate tequila. More specifically, I hate the morning after tequila.”